U.S. Seeks To Fund Ukraine Reconstruction With Seized Russian Assets

The U.S. is considering using more illicit assets seized from Russian oligarchs to aid Ukraine's reconstruction, a senior State Department official announced on Thursday, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Discussions are also ongoing about the estimated $300 billion of Russian Central Bank assets that the U.S. and allies have frozen, according to Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.

The Biden administration is seeking to help fund the $400 billion reconstruction of Ukraine after Vladimir Putin' invasion ends, and to turn the country into a new center for European energy production.

“We will help Ukrainian cities and towns and villages so displaced Ukrainians can return home without fear, reunite with their loved ones, and get back to their businesses, their farms, and to the work of building a peaceful democratic future,” Nuland told a Washington audience during a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“The American people have provided extraordinary levels of military, economic, and humanitarian support to Ukraine,” Nuland said. “Why? Because the American people understand the stakes.”

Nulan went on to add, "We are working to ensure that Russia helps pay for all that it has broken... Our work is not simply about rebuilding what Putin has so criminally destroyed. It's about the complete modernization and revitalization of Ukraine."

She concluded: Our shared goal must not be a Ukraine that simply survives. It must the a Ukraine that thrives"

Alex Raufoglu